(London Daily Mail) Through the telescopic sights of their sniper rifles the marksmen of Algeria’s Special Forces watched as exhausted, frightened foreign hostages were pushed through the wooden doorway of the block where they had been sheltering towards a fleet of jeeps.

Some would have had a clear shot at the Jihadist kidnappers from the ‘Blood Battalion’ but no order was given to open fire when the convoy started moving.

Instead, heavily armed gunships opened fire on the speeding vehicles – hitting and destroying four and causing a fifth to spin over and to crash.

Through the telescopic sights of their sniper rifles the marksmen of Algeria’s Special Forces watched as exhausted, frightened foreign hostages were pushed through the wooden doorway of the block where they had been sheltering towards a fleet of jeeps.

Some would have had a clear shot at the Jihadist kidnappers from the ‘Blood Battalion’ but no order was given to open fire when the convoy started moving.

Instead, heavily armed gunships opened fire on the speeding vehicles – hitting and destroying four and causing a fifth to spin over and to crash.